One of California's most notorious murderers will not be executed after his victim's family decided it would be too painful to try and have the punishment reinstated.
Scott Peterson discovered on Friday that he will instead spent the rest of his life in prison after a prosecutor in Sacramento, California, said there were no plans to have his 2005 death sentence reinstated.
It was thrown out after a court ruled jurors should not have been excluded from Peterson's murder trial for being anti-capital punishment. District Attorney Birgit Fladager, who made the announcement on Friday, said victim Laci Peterson's family found the legal process 'simply too painful to endure once again.'
Laci was Scott's wife, and vanished from their home in Modesto while pregnant with their son Conner on Christmas Eve 2002.
Her corpse was found floating in San Francisco Bay in April 2003, with Conner's fetus found to have been mutilated.
Peterson was convicted of his wife's murder in 2005 after jurors were told how he had a masseuse mistress called Amber Frey. Frey did not realize Peterson was married when they first began dating.
He is also said to have dreaded becoming a father.
Scott Peterson, pictured, will no longer be executed for the 2002 murder of his pregnant wife Lacey, a prosecutor said Friday
Peterson and Laci. He was cheating on her with a masseuse called Amber Frey at the time of her murder, and is said to have dreaded becoming a father
The family has 'no doubt' Peterson killed his wife and unborn son Conner and deserves the death penalty but doesn´t want to pursue that punishment because 'this process is simply too painful to endure once again,' District Attorney Birgit Fladager said her filing in San Mateo Superior Court.
Peterson, now 48, was convicted in the San Mateo court after his trial was moved from Stanislaus County due to the massive pre-trial publicity that followed the Christmas Eve 2002 disappearance of 27-year-old Laci, who was eight months pregnant.
Investigators say Peterson took the bodies from their Modesto home and dumped them from his fishing boat into San Francisco Bay, where they surfaced months later.
Peterson took Laci's corpse out on his fishing boat, pictured, after killing her, then dumped the body in San Francisco Bay.
Peterson, pictured in 2005, was cleared after a judge ruled jurors should not have been barred from trying him in 2004 for being anti-capital punishment
Peterson maintains his innocence, and claims Laci was killed after disturbing a burglary.
A judge is considering whether to grant a new trial because a juror failed to disclose that she had sought a restraining order in 2000 against her boyfriend´s ex-girlfriend.
She said in seeking the order that she feared for her unborn child. The judge must decide if that amounted to juror misconduct, and if so, whether it was so prejudicial that a new trial is warranted.
If no new trial is granted, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
One of Peterson´s attorneys said the announcement is not a precursor to a plea deal and that his client will seek a new trial if a judge decides his first one was tainted by juror misconduct.
Peterson began an affair with masseuse Amber Frey, pictured, who didn't realize he was married to Laci when they began seeing each other
Peterson maintains his innocence, and claims Laci was killed after disturbing a burglary at the couple's home in Modesto, California (pictured)
Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo said she hopes to make a decision this year whether Peterson merits a new trial.
It´s not clear if prosecutors could again seek the death penalty if there is a new trial and he was again convicted, said defense attorney Pat Harris, who is handling the death sentence portion of the case.
A different attorney, Andras Farkas, is representing Peterson on the issue of whether he gets a new trial. Farkas did not respond to an email requesting comment.
'It´s not clear to me that they´re saying no matter what, we´re taking the death penalty off the table ... or they´re saying if we go back to trial we´re reserving the right to put the death penalty back up again,' Harris said. 'It sounds like they´re kind of holding back that if the judge orders a new trial, they could put the death penalty back on the table.'
That could be cleared up at what was supposed to be procedural hearing on Tuesday, he said.
The district attorney's office did not comment.
Laci and Conner's grave is pictured in 2005. Peterson could still face a retrial, amid claims his case was not fairly tried
Harris noted that prosecutors had earlier said the family supported again seeking the death penalty, and contended that their new motion is a gambit to avoid a new airing of the case.
'The truth of the matter is they have determined ... that the handwriting is on the wall and if we go back to trial we´re going to prove Scott´s innocence,' he said.
He said he can prove that there was a nearby burglary the day Peterson disappeared, aiding the defense´s contention that someone else killed her when she stumbled upon the crime.
If prosecutors were to proceed with a new penalty phase, they would essentially have to retry the entire case before a new jury - so that new evidence would come out even if jurors could not acquit him and could only recommend a sentence of death or life in prison, he said.
'The truth will have come out. Bottom line is people will know what happened' even if he doesn´t receive a new trial on his guilt or innocence, Harris said.
Scott Peterson´s family and supporters made a similar argument in a Facebook post, that Harris´ request last week for evidence in the hands of prosecutors triggered their decision.
'We are grateful that Stanislaus County is no longer seeking to put Scott to death, but it´s #Time4aNewTrial,' the post said.
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